Phones 4U CEO, Tim Whiting explains Dial-A-Phone deal

We have been very clear that we want to increase our share of the web sales and off the page share, and this is an opportunity to do that and to increase our skill set. It’s a business we have been watching for a while. This deal also gives Dial-A-Phone a degree of scale that it has not enjoyed before.

So will you bring group purchasing benefits to Dial-A-Phone?

Yes. Clearly there are purchasing advantages to being part of a larger group.

Will you keep the brand?

Yes.

Will there be any merging of skills and resources?

We will look utilising the best parts of the business, but we will continue to run it as a separate operation and we will be keeping the brand.

Dial-A-Phone has fallen out with several networks in the past. Does buying it put you in conflict with the networks?

Not at all. We spent a lot of time understanding the business and the quality of the customers. We are very comfortable with the quality of the customers they sign, and we would be very confident and happy to work with the networks on revenue share model because of that.

They are very strong in some specific areas. They not just a direct sales business, they are very strong in web, they are guys that really understand a particularly part of a market, and the web is an area we have never been strong in.

Will the Dial-A-Phone deals stay as sharp as ever?

Dial-A-Phone have been very good at competing in that [deal seeker] market place and that is one of the reasons we have bought the business. Clearly they will need to continue to compete there. We acquired the business because they understand that market particularly well.

Was the price reduced substantially compared to what the sellers asked for?

You are better off asking the sellers that question.

And will they remain involved in the business?

No. There is a lot of very strong management in the business, apart from them.